PM Paetongtarn launches first phase of 10,000-baht disbursement

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra presided over the handing out of 10,000-baht to the first group of recipients on Wednesday morning and pledged to hold the second and third phases soon.

In a ceremony held at the Government House at 9am, Paetongtarn pressed a mock button to gesture the start of the remittance of the economic stimulus money to the first group of recipients.

However, actual transfers by commercial and government-run banks had reportedly been completed at 5am. Some banks even started the transfers shortly after 1am. For instance, Kasikorn Bank reportedly began the transfers at 1.12am and the Government Savings Bank at 1.50 am.

The 10,000-baht transfer to the first group of recipients originated from the ruling Pheu Thai Party’s flagship election campaign policy to hand out 10,000 baht to Thais who are at least 16 years old to stimulate the economy.

Initially, the Pheu Thai-led government planned to hand out 10,000 baht to 50 million Thais via a digital wallet system but it later scaled down the project to 45 million.

It decided to remit the first amount of 145 billion baht in cash to 14.55 million registered underprivileged or stare welfare card holders and disabled from Wednesday to Monday as the first allocation of funds came from the fiscal 2024 budget, which ends this month.

On the first day of remittance, the money was credited in the bank accounts of welfare card holders whose national ID cards end with 0 and 2.1 million registered disabled.

During the ceremony, Paetongtarn said her government realised that this vulnerable group – the disabled and state welfare card holders – was hardest hit by the economic crisis that has been hitting the country for many years.

The prime minister said the country’s economic crisis, which was contributed to by the global economic slowdown, was also aggravated by natural disasters, including floodings.

The crisis caused a lot of funds to be depleted from the economic system so her government decided to inject the first allocation of 145.552 billion baht into the economy to generate the first economic typhoon in the Thai economic system, Paetontarn said in her speech.

The premier added that the 10,000-baht handout would provide economic opportunities to the recipients and allow them to live in dignity after they invest the money.

She noted that if a family has more than one recipient, they can pool their money together to start a small business.

She added that her government will continue the digital wallet scheme and remit the 10,000 baht to recipients in the following phases via the digital wallet system.

Paetongtarn explained that the digital wallet system would lay a digital infrastructure for the country by creating a digital ID for each citizen to link to government agencies.

After finishing her speech, Paetongtarn linked up with recipients in the provinces via video calls.

A Chiang Mai resident said she will use part of the handout to pay for her child’s school fees and keep the rest for medical expenses.

A disabled person in Samut Sakhon said she received the money at 3.15am and would keep it for medical expenses and for buying necessities.

Another resident in Mukdahan said he had received the money at 2am and will invest it in buying goods to resell.

After the ceremony ended at about 9.30am, reporters asked the premier whether the government would continue the handout in the second and third phases right away.

Paetongtarn responded that the government was still in the process of setting up the digital wallet system, adding that the Finance Ministry would later announce details of the following phases.

Asked how she felt about people keeping vigil for the money since midnight, she said she was happy for them and hoped the money would generate an economic storm in the country.